But It's Better If You Do
by BlondeAtHeart88
Summary: Torrence Curran, best friend of Seamus Finnigan, comes to Hogwarts her fifth year to find that even though some things have changed, there are still a select few one person can rely on...


Prologue: In the Beginning…

Who knows when this all started. One minute, I was a normal five year old, the next; I was making my younger brother float above the house. I mean, normal? Not so much. I set my hair on fire when I was seven! I was so mad at my parents, I held my breath and then I just…combusted! It was so killer.

I hated my brown hair, so when my hair came back, it was a deep shade of blue. Blue? How does a normal seven, almost eight year old child change their hair color in the blink of an eye?

My parents tried to find out what was wrong with me after the whole combusting into flames incident. They took me to doctors up the bum-hole and I thought I was going insane.

And then I got the letter. The letter that defined the rest of my life. The letter that made sense of all of my abnormalities. Made sense of the floating brother. And finally, made sense of my blue hair.

The letter from Hogwarts: School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Chapter One: Goodbye and Hello

"Torrence, you have everything?" My mum asked as I walked down the stairs with my trunk.

"My bird," I said and motioned up the stairs with a flick of my head.

"Connor! Get your sister's bird!" My mum screeched up the stairs.

She sounded just like my owl, Tawny. "Mum!" I screwed my eyes up into my head.

"Well, we have to hurry. The Finnigan's are leaving in fifteen minutes!" She urged.

"Mum, we'll be fine!" I said. "They wouldn't leave without me! I know Seamus better than that."

"Well then you had best hurry!" My father walked into the room.

I rolled my eyes. I call him 'Father' and not 'Da' because he's my step-father. I hate him with all my being, but I'm forced to call him Father because he adopted me.

"Colin! Connor!" Mum called up the stairs.

"Hold on, Mum!" My brothers both called out at the same time.

I pulled my trunk to the front door and looked out over the green pasture that surrounded our home. There was a van rolling along our drive and I realized it was the Finnigan's van. "Mum, they're here!"

"Hey, Torrence," Seamus smiled when he stepped out. He hurried up to our porch as to avoid the drizzle that was slowly turning into rain.

"'Ello," I smiled and waved slightly. "Excited?" I asked.

"Heck yes! Wait...why am I excited?" He asked.

"School?" I asked.

"Pshh, holiday wasn't long enough," He said remorsefully.

I rolled my eyes. "Too long, in my opinion," I said and groaned when my step-father walked out of the house.

"Hello, Seamus," He said sternly and held out his hand.

Seamus took his hand and held back a wince as my step-father gripped his hand.

"Have your things ready?" Seamus asked, gulping down the yelp that was going to escape from his throat. He shook out his hand and gasped in pain. His hand was a deep shade of red.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," I apologized.

"Not your fault," He said. "Mum's in the car, if you're ready," He said.

"Just a second," I turned and hugged my mum. "Love you," I whispered and stepped back, allowing Connor and Collin to get by with their trunks and our owls.

"Bye Mum!" The three of us yelled out together and hopped into the Finnigan family car. We waved until our house disappeared behind the rolling hills.

"I lied," Seamus said.

"Say what?" I asked.

"I lied. I'm very excited about going back to school."

I laughed and stared out the window. "I wonder if everyone's still the same after last year," I sighed.

"Why do you ask that?" He asked.

I shrugged. "With Potter and Diggory, I'm kind of scared for us. Aren't you?" I asked.

"Should we, though?" He asked. "We have enough defense," He said.

"Seamus, that's not the point. There are hexes and charms that we have no clue how to shield ourselves against," I whispered intently.

"I know, but still," He said. "Let's just drop it until we can get privacy," He muttered, noticing that both of my brothers were staring back at us.

"Are you two in love?" Colin joked.

"You're eleven, Colin, act like it," I said and he turned around.

Connor snickered and looked back at us. "No, but seriously, are you?"

"The joys of brothers," I muttered and Seamus laughed.

"No, we're best friends," Seamus said. "I could never date your sister. That's just…ew."

"Thanks Seamus," I rolled my eyes and stared out the window.

My brothers laughed and Seamus's mum scolded him for being mean to me.

"Honestly, Mum, I was only joking," He said.

"You were being mean so apologize," She said.

"Sorry, Tore," He muttered.

I nudged him and winked. "It's fine."

"You think Jana's single yet?" He asked hopefully.

Jana McKay was one of my best friends at Hogwarts. We were in the same grade and had beds across from each other in our dormitories.

"I haven't heard from her," I shook my head.

Seamus sighed.

"Why don't you ever talk to her?" I asked.

"I'm scared to," He muttered.

"Oh, get over it," I rolled my eyes.

"If you're so brave, why don't you talk to Fred?" He asked.

"I just…I don't know," I stuck my tongue out at him.

"He's going to be in Diagon Alley the same time we are," He said.

"As if I care," I sniffed.

"You do!" He laughed.

"Do not," I grumbled and folded my arms across my chest. "Ms. Finnigan? Can I come sit up there with you?" I begged.

"We're almost there," She smiled back at me.

I groaned. "If I'm ever stuck with you on a deserted island, you'd be the first to die."

"Not if I got to you first," He chided.

I narrowed my eyes. I was quiet the rest of the ride to the train station.

Every attempt made by Seamus to get me to talk to him was in vain. I wouldn't even utter a little eep.

"You're going to have to talk to me some time," He nudged me.

I rolled my eyes and jumped out of the van once we got to the station.

"Here are your tickets for this train, and here is your Hogwarts Express ticket, Seamus. I trust you three already have your own?"

"Yes, ma'am," I nodded to Seamus's mum.

"Seamus, all of you guys are sharing a room at the Leaky Cauldron. You can behave, right?" She eyed us too.

"Honestly, Ms. Finnigan, I find Seamus quite repulsive," I said and smirked in Seamus's general direction.

"I hope you two can behave," Ms. Finnigan said. "I don't want any Owls saying that you two have gotten into anymore trouble."

I laughed and glanced at Seamus, who, in turn, winked at me. "Promise," I nodded.

We boarded the train and sat down in our assigned compartment. "You still mad at me?" Seamus asked.

"Oh lookie! Food!" I jumped in my seat.

"Torrence," Seamus spoke firmly.

I looked at him. "Seamus."

"You're talking to me!" He pointed at me.

"Not by choice," I laughed.

"Have you talked to either Ron or Jana since school let out?" He asked.

"All I know is that Jana is going to be at the Leaky Cauldron and we're supposed to be meeting everyone in Diagon Alley in a few days," I shrugged. "Have you talked to anyone?" I asked.

"I talked to Dean a few times," He shrugged. "But I already told you about that."

I nodded. "Yeah," I said.

The rest of the train ride was fast. It wasn't much of a ride, but oh well. "C'mon, let's go put our bags away so we can go eat. I'm starved," Seamus said once we got off the train.

We loaded our luggage trolley and flagged down a cabby. "The Leaky Cauldron," I said to the driver.

I squeezed in next to Seamus and laughed when he put his arm across my shoulders. Everyone at our school thought we were dating but we were far from it, just best friends with each other's best interest in mind.

"'Ere we are," The cabby opened our doors and helped us with our luggage.

"We've got it from here, thanks," Seamus gave the man some muggle money and we lugged our stuff into the pub/inn.

"Names?" Tom, the Innkeeper asked us.

"Finnigan," Seamus said.

"Oh, right. I'll take you up there, Ian here will take your things up," He motioned to an apprentice to help with the luggage.

"Torrence!" I heard a familiar squeal from the staircase.

I whipped around and saw two very familiar girls beaming down at me: Jana McKay and Rebekah Tansley, my two best friends who were girls.

"Hey guys!" I smiled and hugged them both.

"Just get here?" Rebekah asked.

"No, we got here yesterday," I said innocently.

"You did?" Jana asked.

I laughed. "No," I shook my head. "I'm going up with these kids to unpack my things, care to join me?" I asked.

"Actually, we were just going out to Diagon Alley, want to come with and then you can unpack later?" Rebekah asked. "We're going to go boy searching," She whispered.

"Uhm, Seamus. I'm going out with the girls, we'll probably catch some dinner, you guys can take care of yourselves, I trust," I said. We left without waiting for an answer. "Oh, look at my clothes! I don't look as nearly as presentable as you two do!" I complained and picked at my black hoodie.

"You look good all the same," Jana said and pulled out her wand. She prodded the bricks behind The Leaky Cauldron and we watched the brick wall move so we could get through.

I was so excited to see the familiar surroundings. I was so used to shopping around muggles, it was a nice change from the ordinary.

"Oh! I saw Fred and George earlier this summer…They apparated to see me and good Lord, child, have the gotten, dare I say, hotter than last time?" Rebekah smiled at me.

I laughed as we walked into Florean Fortescue's ice cream parlor. "Three chocolate and strawberry sundaes," I smiled at the owner.

"I was wondering when you three would arrive," Mr. Fortescue smiled at us. "Where are the young men who always follow you around? That Potter fellow and the lot?" He asked.

"Potter and the Weasley's aren't coming to The Leaky Cauldron, they're meeting us at the train station," Rebekah answered.

"And Seamus is back at the inn helping my brothers settle in," I answered.

I noticed Jana glanced at me at the mention of Seamus, but I didn't say anything, I just raised my eyebrow.

"It's a nice day out, wanna go sit outside?" Jana asked us.

Rebekah shrugged and nodded. "Sounds fun."

"Okay," I nodded. I followed the two outside and sat down at a table. I removed my hoodie to reveal a tight black short sleeve t-shirt.

"Don't look presentable?" Jana cocked an eyebrow.

I rolled my eyes. "I need sun," I muttered.

"I think you look fine, quit fussing about your appearance," Rebekah muttered to me.

"Ah, shut it the both of you," I muttered. They both laughed at the same time. "What?" I asked.

"Your accent sounds so funny when you're angry," Jana laughed.

"You two are so mean to me," I muttered. My face brightened up, though, when the sundaes were presented to us. "So, Jana," I scooped some ice cream into my mouth, "how are you…and…Ron…What is that arm waving about?" I asked Rebekah.

Jana shot a look at Rebekah. "You didn't tell her?" Rebekah hissed.

"I was getting around to it," Jana muttered.

"Tell me what?" I asked.

"Me and Ron broke up," Jana said.

"Aw, I'm so sorry," I said.

"Don't worry about it," Jana waved it off. "It was mutual."

"Yeah, but still, doesn't it suck?" I asked.

She sighed. "Yeah, kind of, but I'm over it. We're meeting them at the train station tomorrow and I'm going to have to suck it up sometime," She said.

I nodded. "Good way of looking at it," I said. I looked up at the sky and sighed. "I'm so happy we're going back tomorrow."


End file.
